It used to be that blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. One could easily tell the difference.
Then the WordPress CMS came along and changed all this. Now, it’s getting harder to tell the difference between blogs and websites. Not so much in terms of what the sites are being used for, but in terms of website design and also being able to tell what’s under the surface.
(It’s Getting Harder To Tell Websites Built With Web Development Tools Vs ‘Blogging’ Software!)
For many website owners, understanding the difference between a CMS application like WordPress and other website-building software is huge, not so much in terms of the technical differences, but more importantly, in terms of the things that matter to most website owners, such as web development costs, ease of use, ability to keep the website up-to-date, managing content, etc.
Think about this …
Which of the options below would you choose?
A) An eye-catching, professional-looking website that is expensive to build, or
B) The same eye-catching, professional-looking site, but for a fraction of the cost of getting site ”A” above built.
If you picked web site ”B” above, then you need to learn more about the benefits of using WordPress, why WordPress can be used to create an eye-catching website that will normally end up costing you far less to build than websites which are built with other web development tools … and how to tell these two types apart!
WordPress is the world’s most popular online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a budget-friendly CMS suitable for all businesses and non-technical users.
Whether your reason for having a website or blog is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a newbie with no technical skills to use, yet it offers an array of helpful features that make your website highly effective when it comes to getting your content published, promoting visitor interaction, generating business leads and sales, scalability, etc.
With almost one in every five websites around the world currently being powered by WordPress, chances are that if you already own a website, yours is also a WordPress site.
And if you don’t have a website yet, or are considering getting one built, then wouldn’t it be great to show your web developer an existing site with the design and layout that you like, know that it was built with WordPress and that you can, therefore, get a similar site built quite inexpensively?
The Easy Way To Tell If Your Blog Runs On The WordPress CMS Platform
Do you need to know if your website is powered by WordPress? Maybe you’ve come here because you’ve heard about all of the great benefits and advantages of using WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site runs on the WordPress software, or some other CMS application.
Also, have you ever looked at a competitor’s website and wondered what they’re doing to try and get better results online?
Knowing if your competitor’s site is built with WordPress can tell you a few things about their strategies and methods, such as what themes or plugins they are using.
Here are a number of ways to tell if sites are built using WordPress:
Look At Your Page Source Code
If you know how to access the source code of a web page (e.g. Firefox Menu > Web Developer > Page Source if using Firefox, or Google Menu > More Tools > View Source if using Google Chrome), you can look for an obvious telltale footprint that the site was built using WordPress …
(Viewing page source code in the Firefox browser)
Suppose that you are browsing online and you come across a web site that you like, and you wonder if the site is built with WordPress …
First, bring up the site’s source code on your screen, using the methods described above.
In the page’s source code, search for “wp-content” either by visually scanning the code …
Or use your browser’s “Find” function …
(Using Firefox’s ‘Find’ function)
This will quickly tell you if the site was built using WordPress or not.
Note: If you do not locate “wp-content” within the source code, it doesn’t mean that it’s not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to tell if the site runs on WordPress, as we will soon discuss.
As the point of this article is to try and help non-technical users, however, we have listed below a number of easy methods you can use to check if your site is powered by WordPress other than looking at the source code.
Ask Your Web Developer
While this may seem like the logical thing to do, a number of web developers, for whatever reason, may build their clients a website and not tell them it’s WordPress.
If you paid a website developer or got somebody else to build your website, just ask your webmaster or whoever built your web site if it runs on WordPress.
That was simple, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t reach the person who looks after your website, or what if you’ve come across a website that you really like while surfing the net late at night and you want to know if the site was built with WordPress?
Check Below The Footer
If the site uses a WP theme and the site templates have not been edited, you can typically find a “Proudly powered by WordPress” message displayed at the bottom of the site …
(Powered by WordPress – footer area)
If these simple methods haven’t helped you, here are some other ways of identifying WordPress sites …
Tools That Can Tell You If A Website Is Built With WordPress
Here are a some tools that can tell you if a website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
IsItWP.com – WordPress Checking Tool
(Is It WordPress?)
Is It WP is a free online tool that can check if a website uses WordPress or not.
Using this tool is very simple. Just type in or paste in the address of the site into the URL field and click the button next to it.
The tool will go through the page code on the URL and tell you if the site was built using WordPress, and if so, it will even tell you which version of WordPress it is currently using …
If the site has not been built using WordPress, you will see a message similar to the one shown in the screen shot below …
To visit this site, go here:
Advanced WP Theme Checker by Satori
(WordPress Theme Detector)
WordPress Theme Detector by Satori Studio is a free tool that can help determine whether or not a website uses WordPress as its CMS engine; it will also tell you which theme the site is using and provide a link to the theme’s official page.
To use this tool, paste the URL of a web page (it doesn’t have to be the home page) into the ‘Enter website URL’ field and click on the ‘What WordPress theme is that?’ button …
(Enter website URL and click the button)
The Theme Detector will automatically scan the website and output its theme information …
(WordPress Theme Detector displays theme results)
If a website is built with WordPress but the theme is too customized to contain any traces of its origins, the Detector will still let you know it’s a WP site by outputting a message on the right.
(Modified WordPress theme message)
If the website is not using WordPress at all, the tool will also let you know …
(This website is not WordPress)
You can try the Detector yourself by visiting this link:
Wappalyzer – Browser Add-On (Firefox / Chrome)
(Wappalyzer – Add-On For Firefox / Chrome Web Browser)
If you browse the net using either the Firefox or Google Chrome web browsers and would like to be able to tell if the sites that you are visiting are WordPress sites, then Wappalyzer is a very useful add-on for your web browser.
Wappalyzer identifies what software is installed on the sites you are visiting.
According to their website …
“Wappalyzer is a browser extension that uncovers the technologies used on websites. It detects content management systems, eCommerce platforms, web servers, JavaScript frameworks, analytics tools and many more.”
It’s also a very easy to install and easy to use browser extension.
Once you have installed Wappalyzer on your browser, icons will show up in your browser, in the URL field identifying which technologies are being used by the sites you are visiting …
If you see the WordPress icon on your browser menu (as the above screen shot shows), then the site has been built with WordPress.
(This is a WordPress site!)
To learn more and install the Wappalyzer extension, go here:
SpyBar
(SpyBar – Browser Addon For WordPress)
SpyBar is a browser addon that lets you ‘reverse engineer’ any WordPress site you visit and see which WordPress plugins and themes are being used, right inside your web browser …
(SpyBar – Discover WordPress Plugins And Themes Used By Your Competitors)
SpyBar can be installed as a browser extension on Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox and is compatible with PC and Mac.
To download or learn more about SpyBar, go here:
Plugin Sniper
(Plugin Sniper – Find out what plugins a WordPress site is using)
Plugin Sniper lets you find out what plugins a WordPress site is using. This is a useful tool if you want to know what WordPress plugins are being used by your competitors.
Plugin Sniper is also a useful tool for researching what kinds of plugins businesses in certain niches are using …
(Search WordPress sites by categories and location)
To download or learn more about Plugin Sniper, go here:
I hope you have found this information useful.
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